122-488: The Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union ( Lithuanian : Lietuvos valstiečių ir žaliųjų sąjunga , LVŽS) is a green-conservative and agrarian political party in Lithuania led by Ramūnas Karbauskis . The party is considered one of the main representatives of the left wing of Lithuanian politics. Lithuanian journalist Virgis Valentinavičius described the party as "the mixture of the extreme left in economic matters and
244-882: A green party (a green conservative party). In 2022, he formed his own political party, the Union of Democrats "For Lithuania" , and he is currently a member of the Seimas , as well as his party's chairman. He is the Speaker of the Seimas since 14 November 2024. Born in Kaunas , Skvernelis graduated from the Vilnius Technical University in 1994 and started working at the Lithuania Police Academy . In 1998, Skvernelis started his career in
366-652: A Proto-Balto-Slavic stage, from which the Baltic languages retain exclusive and non-exclusive lexical, morphological, phonological and accentual isoglosses in common with the Slavic languages , which represent their closest living Indo-European relatives. Moreover, with Lithuanian being so archaic in phonology, Slavic words can often be deduced from Lithuanian by regular sound laws ; for example, Lith. vilkas and Polish wilk ← PBSl. *wilkás (cf. PSl. *vьlkъ ) ← PIE *wĺ̥kʷos , all meaning " wolf ". Initially, Lithuanian
488-454: A Russian-speaking inhabitant of Vilnius arrested by Lithuanian police, escaped out of a police vehicle with a stolen AK-47 and roamed the city for several hours until he was detained again. An action among members of the Seimas in support of him remaining in the post, initiated by Petras Gražulis , gathered the signatures of a majority of the parliament. Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius refused his resignation on 30 November. During
610-405: A ban on land sales to foreigners. One of the party's main economic goals is to replace the privatization of retirement saving accounts and other welfare programs. After 1991, Lithuania "zealously embraced neoliberal doctrines" and became characterized by one of the lowest levels of social expenditure and the highest levels of poverty and inequality among EU Member States; the pensioners were amongst
732-703: A commitment to establishing a "strong family" as the core of Lithuanian society. It also strongly praises the Catholic Church and its teachings, and opposes abortion , same-sex partnerships and assisted reproductive technologies on the basis of the Catholic faith. Despite this, in the twelfth Seimas , the LVŽS was a big tent in regards to social issues, and some of its members such as Dovilė Šakalienė and Tomas Tomilinas were strong supporters of feminism, minority rights and civil partnerships for same-sex couples. Since
854-636: A corruption scandal in late 2014 and chose to resign. Order and Justice tapped Skvernelis as his replacement, despite him not being a member of the party, and he accepted. On 5 November 2014, President Dalia Grybauskaitė appointed Skvernelis as Minister of the Interior, with the Seimas confirming the appointment on 11 November. From the beginning of his term as Minister, Skvernelis enjoyed high approval ratings. However, he nearly resigned in 20 November 2015 after an incident in Vilnius, in which Igor Molotkov,
976-604: A left-wing populist one, full of eclectic tendencies. Starting out as the farmer-focused Lithuanian Peasant Union ( Lithuanian : Lietuvos Valstiečių Sąjunga ) in the early 1990s, LVŽS was later renamed the Lithuanian Peasant Party ( Lithuanian : Lietuvos valstiečių partija ) and started broadening its program beyond agricultural issues, joining forces with the Lithuanian Women Party ( Lithuanian : Lietuvos moterų partija ) in 1995. In
1098-478: A police raid in which 240 police officers were involved and force was reportedly used against protestors attempting to stop the transfer. Skvernelis was reportedly threatened with dismissal by members of the incumbent government, but went ahead with the operation regardless. Dailis Alfonsas Barakauskas [ lt ] , delegated by the Order and Justice party as Minister of the Interior , became complicit in
1220-406: A priority task for the new government. Recognising that the economic cause of high unemployment and emigration is relatively low wages, we will take swift and effective measures to increase the income of the population, while at the same time striving to ensure an adequate social safety net." Accentuating the agrarianism of the party, the program also put heavy importance on "preserving the vitality of
1342-516: A result of a decrease in the usage of spoken Lithuanian in the eastern part of Lithuania proper, in the 19th century, it was suggested to create a standardized Lithuanian based on the Samogitian dialect. Nevertheless, it was not accomplished because everyone offered their Samogitian subdialects and the Eastern and Western Aukštaitians offered their Aukštaitian subdialects. In the second half of
SECTION 10
#17327929424561464-627: A single language. At a minimum, transitional dialects existed until the 14th or 15th century and perhaps as late as the 17th century. The German Livonian Brothers of the Sword occupied the western part of the Daugava basin, which resulted in colonization of the territory of modern Latvia (at the time it was called Terra Mariana ) by Germans and had a significant influence on the language's independent development due to Germanisation (see also: Baltic Germans and Baltic German nobility ). There
1586-651: A single sound, the velar fricative [ x ] , while dz and dž are pronounced like straightforward combinations of their component letters (sounds): Dz dz [ dz ] (dzė), Dž dž [ dʒ ] (džė), Ch ch [ x ] (cha). The distinctive Lithuanian letter Ė was used for the first time in the Daniel Klein 's Grammatica Litvanica and firmly established itself in Lithuanian since then. However, linguist August Schleicher used Ë (with two points above it) instead of Ė for expressing
1708-427: A total ban on alcohol advertising and establishing a state monopoly on alcohol trade. The party is also strongly pro-union, and was praised for improving social dialogue between the state and the unions, and implementing a number of union-favourable collective agreements in the public sector. It also promotes public awareness and the visibility of trade unions, and encourages workers to join them. The party also postulated
1830-584: Is a Lithuanian politician who served as prime minister of Lithuania between 2016 and 2020. He had previously served as police commissioner , and was Minister of the Interior from 2014 to 2016. Though he was an independent politician, he was backed by the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and was a member of its parliamentary group until 2022, as a result of which he became the first head of government in European history primarily backed by
1952-772: Is a translation dating from about 1503–1525 of the Lord's Prayer , the Hail Mary , and the Nicene Creed written in the Southern Aukštaitian dialect. On 8 January 1547 the first Lithuanian book was printed – the Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas . At the royal courts in Vilnius of Sigismund II Augustus , the last Grand Duke of Lithuania prior to the Union of Lublin , both Polish and Lithuanian were spoken equally widely. In 1552 Sigismund II Augustus ordered that orders of
2074-433: Is also described as technocratic and agrarian populist. The rhetoric of the party is based on left-wing populism, prioritizing socioeconomic issues and establishing itself as the representative of the disadvantaged groups of Lithuanian society. Its voter base is composed of rural areas and small towns, and its supporters are mainly the poor, disadvantaged and anti-establishment voters. It criticizes other partes for neglecting
2196-442: Is augmented by the fact that Proto-Balto-Slavic is easily reconstructible with important proofs in historic prosody. The alleged (or certain, as certain as historical linguistics can be) similarities due to contact are seen in such phenomena as the existence of definite adjectives formed by the addition of an inflected pronoun (descended from the same Proto-Indo-European pronoun), which exist in both Baltic and Slavic yet nowhere else in
2318-482: Is conservative in its grammar and phonology, retaining archaic features otherwise found only in ancient languages such as Sanskrit (particularly its early form, Vedic Sanskrit ) or Ancient Greek . Thus, it is an important source for the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European language despite its late attestation (with the earliest texts dating only to c. 1500 AD , whereas Ancient Greek
2440-472: Is considered to be a blend of staunchly left-wing economic policy, environmentalism, and a conservative outlook on some sociocultural issues. Economically, the party focuses on the importance of expanded healthcare and social welfare, whereas socially the party campaigns on traditional and Christian values and the need to stop the moral decay of contemporary society. Its economic ideology has been described as social-democratic, or akin to social democracy. The party
2562-549: Is divided into West, North and South; Aukštaitian into West (Suvalkiečiai), South ( Dzūkian ) and East. Lithuanian uses the Latin script supplemented with diacritics . It has 32 letters . In the collation order, y follows immediately after į (called i nosinė ), because both y and į represent the same long vowel [ iː ] : In addition, the following digraphs are used, but are treated as sequences of two letters for collation purposes. The digraph ch represents
SECTION 20
#17327929424562684-637: Is known that Jogaila , being ethnic Lithuanian by the male-line , himself knew and spoke Lithuanian with Vytautas the Great , his cousin from the Gediminids dynasty. During the Christianization of Samogitia none of the clergy, who arrived to Samogitia with Jogaila, were able to communicate with the natives, therefore Jogaila himself taught the Samogitians about Catholicism ; thus he
2806-498: Is largely phonemic, i.e., one letter usually corresponds to a single phoneme (sound). There are a few exceptions: for example, the letter i represents either the vowel [ ɪ ] , as in English sit , or is silent and merely indicates that the preceding consonant is palatalized . The latter is largely the case when i occurs after a consonant and is followed by a back or a central vowel , except in some borrowed words (e.g.,
2928-399: Is less conservative on some other social matters - it postulates increased psychological services availability, old-age pensions rise, significant climate action via preservation, agricultural reform against large landowners, and environmental education. The party is regarded as moderate in its social conservatism. Throughout its existence, the party has evolved from a purely agrarian party to
3050-414: Is one of Lithuania's key problems, contrasting the prosperity of Vilnius and the urban middle class with the impoverished Lithuanian countryside, struggling with high unemployment and lack of prospects. In its ideological manifesto "The Government Program for Sustainable Lithuania" ( Lithuanian : Darnios Lietuvos Vyriausybės programa ), LVŽS declared: "Addressing regional poverty and exclusion must become
3172-456: Is written in a Latin script . In some respects, some linguists consider it to be the most conservative of the existing Indo-European languages , retaining features of the Proto-Indo-European language that had disappeared through development from other descendant languages . Anyone wishing to hear how Indo-Europeans spoke should come and listen to a Lithuanian peasant. — Antoine Meillet Among Indo-European languages, Lithuanian
3294-567: The 2014 Lithuanian constitutional referendum , which sought to prohibit the ownership of land in Lithuania to foreign citizens, in violation of Lithuania's terms of membership in the European Union . Karbauskis opposed Lithuania's accession to the European Union before 2004, although the party emphasized its pro-Europeanism during the 2016 campaign. Between 2012 and 2016, the party also adopted right-wing views on social issues. In
3416-497: The 2015 European migrant crisis , Skvernelis criticised anti-migrant rhetoric, but also expressed scepticism towards the European Union 's policy of migrant quotas. He conflicted with Speaker of the Seimas Loreta Graužinienė and President Grybauskaitė during his term. By 2016, Skvernelis had become one of the most popular politicians in Lithuania. As a result, he was approached by several political parties, including
3538-446: The 2016 Lithuanian parliamentary election , the main message of LVŽS was the need to fight poverty and social exclusion, for which the party blamed economic liberalism and pro-business policies by previous Lithuanian governments. Economically, the party is described as 'extreme-left' and strongly populist, presenting itself as a party of ordinary people. It is described as social democratic economically. LVŽS argues that wealth inequality
3660-615: The 2016 parliamentary elections , a clarification about its English name format was issued, changing it to Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union . Also, after these election the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union became one of the main three political parties in Lithuania (along with the Homeland Union and the Social Democratic Party) at the time. After these elections, various pundits claimed that
3782-708: The Compendium Grammaticae Lithvanicae singled out that the Lithuanians of the Vilnius Region ( Latin : in tractu Vilnensi ) tend to speak harshly, almost like Austrians , Bavarians and others speak German in Germany . Due to the historical circumstances of Lithuania , Lithuanian-speaking territory was divided into Lithuania proper and Lithuania Minor , therefore, in the 16th–17th centuries, three regional variants of
Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union - Misplaced Pages Continue
3904-582: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1/3 residents in Lithuania proper and up to 1/2 residents in Samogitia ) and 53% of residents in Lithuania Minor (more than 90% of the deceased were Prussian Lithuanians ). Since the 19th century to 1925 the amount of Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania Minor (excluding Klaipėda Region ) decreased from 139,000 to 8,000 due to Germanisation and colonization . As
4026-657: The Homeland Union ), but finished with 54 of the 141 seats in the Seimas, thanks to strong performances in single-member constituencies. Skvernelis was elected to the Seimas in the single-member constituency of Karoliniškės in Vilnius . As the Farmers and Greens had never held the plurality of seats, a coalition with either the Homeland Union or the Social Democrats was considered. After a grand coalition
4148-811: The January Uprising , Mikhail Muravyov , the Russian Governor General of Lithuania , banned the language in education and publishing and barred use of the Latin alphabet altogether, although books continued to be printed in Lithuanian across the border in East Prussia and in the United States . Brought into the country by book smugglers (Lithuanian: knygnešiai ) despite the threat of long prison sentences, they helped fuel growing nationalist sentiment that finally led to
4270-505: The Liberal Democratic Party , who won the election. In the 2004 presidential election (after Rolandas Paksas was impeached), Kazimira Prunskienė narrowly came to the second position (21.25 per cent), but she was defeated in the second round (although, after endorsement of Rolandas Paksas). In 2004 European Parliament election , the party got 7.41 per cent of the votes and won one seat by Gintaras Didžiokas . He joined
4392-595: The Liberal Movement , the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania and Order and Justice , to join their party or participate in their electoral list in the 2016 parliamentary election . However, he refused their offers and announced he would participate in the electoral list of the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union , a party with only one seat in the outgoing parliament, in March 2016. As
4514-587: The Lithuanian nobility to participate in the social-political life of the state. In 1599, Mikalojus Daukša published his Postil and in its prefaces he expressed that the Lithuanian language situation had improved and thanked bishop Merkelis Giedraitis for his works. In 1776–1790 about 1,000 copies of the first Catholic primer in Lithuanian – Mokslas skaitymo rašto lietuviško – were issued annually, and it continued to be published until 1864. Over 15,000 copies appeared in total. In 1864, following
4636-588: The Magistrate of Vilnius be announced in Lithuanian, Polish, and Ruthenian. The same requirement was valid for the Magistrate of Kaunas . In the 16th century, following the decline of Ruthenian usage in favor of Polish in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Lithuanian language strengthened its positions in Lithuania due to reforms in religious matters and judicial reforms which allowed lower levels of
4758-633: The Russian and Ukrainian territory. Hydronyms and archaeology analysis show that the Slavs started migrating to the Baltic areas east and north-east directions in the 6–7th centuries, before then, the Baltic and Slavic boundary was south of the Pripyat River . In the 1960s, Vladimir Toporov and Vyacheslav Ivanov made the following conclusions about the relationship between the Baltic and Slavic languages: These scholars' theses do not contradict
4880-549: The Social Democratic Labour Party in late 2017. A new coalition agreement was signed, but the cabinet was only left with 69 seats of 141 and became a minority government . The cabinet regained its majority in 2019 - according to the Constitution of Lithuania , the incumbent government must be reaffirmed after a presidential election , and Skvernelis thus held negotiations with minor parties in
5002-768: The Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR restored Lithuanian as the official language of Lithuania, under from the popular pro-independence movement Sąjūdis . On 11 March 1990, the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania was passed. Lithuanian was recognized as sole official language of Lithuania in the Provisional Basic Law (Lithuanian: Laikinasis Pagrindinis Įstatymas ) and
Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union - Misplaced Pages Continue
5124-461: The Union for Europe of the Nations . In Seimas election later tahat same year , the party got 6.6 per cent of the votes. The Labour Party joined forces with Peasants and New Democratic Party Union and invited the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania to join. Brazauskas initially ruled out a coalition with Labour, but eventually Social Democrats and New Union (Social Liberals) joined forces with
5246-413: The United States , Uruguay , and Spain . 2,955,200 people in Lithuania (including 3,460 Tatars ), or about 86% of the 2015 population, are native Lithuanian speakers; most Lithuanian inhabitants of other nationalities also speak Lithuanian to some extent. The total worldwide Lithuanian-speaking population is about 3,200,000. Lithuanian is the state language of Lithuania and an official language of
5368-653: The comparative method . Lithuanian is spoken mainly in Lithuania . It is also spoken by ethnic Lithuanians living in today's Belarus , Latvia , Poland , and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, as well as by sizable emigrant communities in Argentina , Australia , Brazil , Canada , Denmark , Estonia , France , Germany , Iceland , Ireland , Norway , Russia , Sweden , the United Kingdom ,
5490-692: The industrialization in the Soviet Union ). Russian consequently came into use in state institutions: the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania (there were 80% Russians among the 22,000 Communist Party members in the Lithuanian SSR in 1948), radio and television (61–74% of broadcasts were in Russian in 1970). Lithuanians passively resisted Russification and continued to use their own language. On 18 November 1988,
5612-496: The prime minister of Lithuania . He was appointed as prime minister by President Dalia Grybauskaitė on 22 November 2016, having been confirmed by the Seimas, and assumed the office on 13 December 2016, when the Seimas approved the program of the Skvernelis Cabinet . His premiership included creation of Child benefit, wage and pensions increase and income tax cuts. The Skvernelis Cabinet teacher pay reform led to
5734-471: The " Valstiečių ir Naujosios demokratijos partijų sąjunga " (VNDS), which translates to the Peasants and New Democratic Party Union or Union of Peasants and New Democratic Parties was formed. In 2002–03 Lithuanian presidential election party's chairman Kazimira Prunskienė came with 5.04 per cent of the votes in the first round and saved its deposit. In the second round, she endorsed Rolandas Paksas of
5856-467: The 13th–16th centuries under the influence of Curonian . Lithuanian dialects are closely connected with ethnographical regions of Lithuania . Even nowadays Aukštaitians and Samogitians can have considerable difficulties understanding each other if they speak with their dialects and not standard Lithuanian, which is mandatory to learn in the Lithuanian education system. Dialects are divided into subdialects. Both dialects have three subdialects. Samogitian
5978-581: The 18th century, was successful due to many publications and research. In contrast, the development of Lithuanian in Lithuania proper was obstructed due to the Polonization of the Lithuanian nobility , especially in the 18th century, and it was being influenced by the Samogitian dialect. The Lithuanian-speaking population was also dramatically decreased by the Great Northern War plague outbreak in 1700–1721 which killed 49% of residents in
6100-512: The 19th century, when the Lithuanian National Revival intensified, and the preparations to publish a Lithuanian periodical press were taking place, the mostly south-western Aukštaitian revival writers did not use the 19th-century Lithuanian of Lithuania Minor as it was largely Germanized . Instead, they used a more pure Lithuanian language which has been described by August Schleicher and Friedrich Kurschat and this way
6222-425: The 2016 parliamentary election has been compared to the victory of Donald Trump in the 2016 United States presidential election . According to Virgis Valentinavičius , both Trump and Karbauskis constructed a narrative of 'us against them', opposing themselves against the elite, in spite of both being among the wealthiest people in their respective countries, and both also shifted the blame for their early scandals to
SECTION 50
#17327929424566344-455: The 2020 election, the party has increasingly turned socially conservative , especially after its more liberal members of the Seimas joined the Union of Democrats "For Lithuania" . The party's vice-chairman Tomas Tomilinas was expelled from the party in 2021 for voting in favor of same-sex partnerships. Given the social conservatism of the LVŽS and its emphasis on Christian values, traditional family and preservation of national identity, its rule
6466-648: The 2nd century AD. Lithuanian originated from the Eastern Baltic subgroup and remained nearly unchanged until c. 1 AD, however in c. 500 AD the language of the northern part of Eastern Balts was influenced by the Finnic languages , which fueled the development of changes from the language of the Southern Balts (see: Latgalian , which developed into Latvian , and extinct Curonian , Semigallian , and Selonian ). The language of Southern Balts
6588-464: The Baltic and Slavic languages closeness and from a historical perspective, specify the Baltic-Slavic languages' evolution. So, there are at least six points of view on the relationships between the Baltic and Slavic. However, as for the hypotheses related to the "Balto-Slavic problem", it is noted that they are more focused on personal theoretical constructions and deviate to some extent from
6710-466: The Baltic languages form their own distinct branch of the family of Indo-European languages , and Endzelīns thought that the similarity between Baltic and Slavic was explicable through language contact. There is also an opinion that suggests the union of Baltic and Slavic languages into a distinct sub-family of Balto-Slavic languages amongst the Indo-European family of languages. Such an opinion
6832-523: The Constitution of 1992, written during the Lithuanian constitutional referendum . Lithuanian is one of two living Baltic languages , along with Latvian , and they constitute the eastern branch of Baltic languages family. An earlier Baltic language, Old Prussian , was extinct by the 18th century; the other Western Baltic languages, Curonian and Sudovian , became extinct earlier. Some theories, such as that of Jānis Endzelīns , considered that
6954-576: The European Union . In the Compendium Grammaticae Lithvanicae , published in 1673, three dialects of Lithuanian are distinguished: Samogitian dialect ( Latin : Samogitiae ) of Samogitia , Royal Lithuania ( Latin : Lithvaniae Regalis ) and Ducal Lithuania ( Latin : Lithvaniae Ducalis ). Ducal Lithuanian is described as pure ( Latin : Pura ), half-Samogitian ( Latin : SemiSamogitizans ) and having elements of Curonian ( Latin : Curonizans ). Authors of
7076-422: The European languages of the participants in the Council of Constance in 1414–1418. From the middle of the 15th century, the legend spread about the Roman origin of the Lithuanian nobility (from the Palemon lineage ), and the closeness of the Lithuanian language and Latin, thus this let some intellectuals in the mid-16th century to advocate for replacement of Ruthenian with Latin, as they considered Latin as
7198-426: The Farmers and Greens were a part of the opposition, he was forced to resign as Minister of the Interior and was replaced by Tomas Žilinskas [ lt ] . Although not a member of the party, Skvernelis headed the electoral list of the Farmers and Greens, leading them to a surprisingly large victory in the 2016 election . The party won 22.45% of votes in the nationwide constituency (finishing close second to
7320-498: The Indo-European family (languages such as Albanian and the Germanic languages developed definite adjectives independently), and that is not reconstructible for Proto-Balto-Slavic, meaning that they most probably developed through language contact. The Baltic hydronyms area stretches from the Vistula River in the west to the east of Moscow and from the Baltic Sea in the north to the south of Kyiv . Vladimir Toporov and Oleg Trubachyov (1961, 1962) studied Baltic hydronyms in
7442-506: The Labour Party and the Peasants, with Brazauskas as the Prime Minister. In February 2006, the Peasants and New Democratic Party Union led by Lithuanian politician Kazimiera Prunskienė chose to rename itself the Lithuanian Peasant Popular Union (after the pre-war Lithuanian Popular Peasants' Union ). In 2008 parliamentary election the party felt below 5 per cent threshold and was left with three members, who were elected in single-member constituencies. In 2009 Kazimira Prunskienė left
SECTION 60
#17327929424567564-416: The Liberal Movement's leader Eugenijus Gentvilas turned down this offer. Eventually, a coalition was formed between the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, which lasted until the autumn of 2017. The party's support gradually declined by 2018 (e. g. in 2019 European Parliament election the party got 11.92 per cent of the votes), although due to the rally 'round
7686-435: The Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and the Labour Party signed a coalition agreement that gave the needed number of members of Seimas for the parties to appoint the opposition leader to the Seimas' Board. On 25 March 2021 Skvernelis was appointed to this position. He remained in this position until mid-September 2021. In late 2021, Skvernelis left the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union political group in Seimas and formed
7808-417: The Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union could form a coalition with the Homeland Union, but Ramūnas Karbauskis proposed wide coalition between the aforementioned parties and the Social Democratic Party. The Homeland Union's leader Gabrielius Landsbergis himself proposed a coalition between the Homeland Union, the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and the Liberal Movement , although both Ramūnas Karbauskis and
7930-423: The Lithuanian Union of Peasants and Greens, after its leader Ramūnas Karbauskis steered the party towards green politics , strongly promoting renewable energy and campaigning against nuclear power plants. This led the party to combine both agricultural interests and elements of green politics, which at the time was condemned as a 'somewhat schizophrenic' political mix. At the same time, led by Karbauskis, it initiated
8052-583: The Lithuanian countryside". LVŽS defines an economy that would prioritize the 'common man' as its goal, emphasizing the need to implement worker-friendly reforms in healthcare and education, a significant increase in wages and pensions, and the drastic revision of Lithuania's labour code, which the party has denounced as pro-business. The party has pledged to create a state-owned pharmacy network and sharply reduce drug prices, and initiated an anti-alcohol campaign, which it implemented by increasing excise duty on alcohol, raising minimum drinking age to 20, introducing
8174-408: The Lithuanian law enforcement system, working as a traffic police inspector in Trakai District Municipality . Gradually rising through the ranks, he was appointed General Commissioner of Police of Lithuania on 7 March 2011. In this position, he played a role in the Case of Drąsius Kedys . As General Commissioner, he approved the transfer of Kedys' daughter to her biological mother in 17 May 2012, in
8296-436: The Polish Ł for the first sound and regular L (without a following i) for the second: łupa , lutas . During the Lithuanian National Revival in the 19th century the Polish Ł was abolished, while digraphs sz , cz (that are also common in the Polish orthography ) were replaced with š and č from the Czech orthography because formally they were shorter. Nevertheless, another argument to abolish sz and cz
8418-406: The Polish courtiers. Casimir IV Jagiellon's son Saint Casimir , who was subsequently announced as patron saint of Lithuania, was a polyglot and among other languages knew Lithuanian. Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon also could understand and speak Lithuanian as multiple Lithuanian priests served in his royal chapel and he also maintained a Lithuanian court. In 1501, Erazm Ciołek , a priest of
8540-459: The Polish dialect in the Vilnius Region and in the northeastern areas in general are very interesting variant of the Polish language as this dialect developed in a foreign territory which was mostly inhabited by the Lithuanians who were Belarusized (mostly) or Polonized, and to prove this Otrębski provided examples of Lithuanianisms in the Tutejszy language . In 2015, Polish linguist Mirosław Jankowiak [ pl ] attested that many of
8662-459: The Seimas after the 2019 Lithuanian presidential election . The Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania and the parliamentary group "For the Welfare of Lithuania" ( Lithuanian : Frakcija „Lietuvos gerovei“ ), made up of former members of the Order and Justice party, joined the coalition. However, Skvernelis only retained a majority for four months - on 13 January 2020, the "For the Welfare of Lithuania" parliamentary group disbanded, as it lost
8784-649: The Seimas after the inclusion of a new coalition member, thus the Constitutional Court of Lithuania ruled that this action violated the Constitution. However, the ruling would not be officially announced until December 23 in order to allow the government to finish serving its term. On 17 January 2019, Skvernelis announced his candidacy for the presidency . In the first round of the presidential election he came third. After his poor showing Skvernelis announced that he would resign from position of prime minister, but later retracted his remarks. In March 2021
8906-448: The Social Democrats due to poor election results, a leadership election was held on April 22, 2017, and was won by Gintautas Paluckas , who questioned the benefit of the coalition agreement with the Farmers and Greens. Against the wishes of its parliamentary group, the party leadership voted to terminate the coalition agreement, but only five of the party's 17 members followed the party's decision. The remaining parliamentarians established
9028-818: The Vilnius Cathedral, explained to the Pope that the Lithuanians preserve their language and ensure respect to it ( Linguam propriam observant ), but they also use the Ruthenian language for simplicity reasons because it is spoken by almost half of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A note written by Sigismund von Herberstein in the first half of the 16th century states that, in an ocean of Ruthenian in this part of Europe, there were two non-Ruthenian regions: Lithuania and Samogitia where its inhabitants spoke their own language, but many Ruthenians were also living among them. The earliest surviving written Lithuanian text
9150-511: The Vilnius Region's inhabitants who declare Polish nationality speak a Belarusian dialect which they call mowa prosta (' simple speech '). Currently, Lithuanian is divided into two dialects: Aukštaitian (Highland Lithuanian), and Samogitian (Lowland Lithuanian). There are significant differences between standard Lithuanian and Samogitian and these are often described as separate languages. The modern Samogitian dialect formed in
9272-464: The Vilnius Region, especially when Vilnius Voivode Ludwik Bociański issued a secret memorandum of 11 February 1936 which stated the measures for suppressing the Lithuanians in the region. Some Lithuanian historians, like Antanas Tyla [ lt ] and Ereminas Gintautas, consider these Polish policies as amounting to an " ethnocide of Lithuanians". Between 1862 and 1944, the Lithuanian schools were completely banned in Lithuania Minor and
9394-435: The acquirement of a foreign speech." Lithuanian was studied by several linguists such as Franz Bopp , August Schleicher , Adalbert Bezzenberger , Louis Hjelmslev , Ferdinand de Saussure , Winfred P. Lehmann and Vladimir Toporov , Jan Safarewicz, and others. By studying place names of Lithuanian origin, linguist Jan Safarewicz [ pl ] concluded that the eastern boundaries of Lithuanian used to be in
9516-446: The biggest teacher strike in Lithuania's history. His Government had also introduced measures that reduced freedom of the press. Skvernelis is considered a pragmatic politician (opportunist by his critics) who doesn't have a clear political ideology. On 14 February 2018, appearing at an LGBT rally in Vilnius, Skvernelis called on the Seimas to recognise same-sex partnerships. As Algirdas Butkevičius chose to resign as chairman of
9638-658: The common language emerged. Lithuanians in Lithuania Minor spoke Western Aukštaitian dialect with specifics of Įsrutis and Ragainė environs (e.g. works of Martynas Mažvydas , Jonas Bretkūnas , Jonas Rėza , and Daniel Klein 's Grammatica Litvanica ). The other two regional variants of the common language were formed in Lithuania proper: middle, which was based on the specifics of the Duchy of Samogitia (e.g. works of Mikalojus Daukša , Merkelis Petkevičius , Steponas Jaugelis‑Telega , Samuelis Boguslavas Chylinskis , and Mikołaj Rej 's Lithuanian postil ), and eastern, based on
9760-552: The early 2000s, the Lithuanian Peasant Party was becoming increasingly left-wing, leading to the change of its name to the Lithuanian Peasant People’s Party ( Lithuanian : Lietuvos valstiečių liaudininkų partija ) in 2005, which was to highlight both the leftwards turn of the party and to connect itself to the interwar peasant movements in Lithuania. In 2012, the party was renamed again to
9882-544: The eastern Prussian Lithuanians ' dialect spoken in Lithuania Minor . These dialects had preserved archaic phonetics mostly intact due to the influence of the neighbouring Old Prussian , while other dialects had experienced different phonetic shifts . Lithuanian became the official language of the country following the restoration of Lithuania's statehood in 1918. The 1922 Constitution of Lithuania (the first permanent Lithuanian constitution ) recognized it as
10004-437: The election joined the agreement with LSDP to form a governmenton 15 October. In the end, Dawn of Nemunas was chosen a third party of coalition, thus leaving LVŽS in opposition. Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union is placed on the left of Lithuanian political spectrum, although with strong left-wing populist and left-conservative tendencies. The party is described as green conservative , agrarian and social conservative and
10126-554: The election, however, it joined the right-wing and Eurosceptic ECR Party. (1996–2004) (2004–2008) (2000–2008) Lithuanian language Lithuanian ( endonym : lietuvių kalba , pronounced [lʲiəˈtʊvʲuː kɐɫˈbɐ] ) is an East Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family . It is the language of Lithuanians and the official language of Lithuania as well as one of
10248-520: The expense of vulnerable socioeconomic groups. The main focus of the party is "social solidarity and left-wing ideas". It criticizes right-leaning parties for anti-Russian sentiment as well as following the traditional division into "ex-communists and anti-communists". The LVŽS to be neither post-communist nor anti-communist. Socially, the party makes somewhat conservative appeals, pledging to uphold 'traditional' values, fight against alcohol and for "sober way of living", and protecting Lithuanian language. It
10370-667: The extreme right in some social issues, all spiced up with an anti-establishment rhetoric of radical change". Following the 2020 parliamentary election , the LVŽS has been in opposition to the Šimonytė Cabinet . The party's two MEPs sit in the Greens–European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament. Founded in 2001 as the Lithuanian Peasant Popular Union , (Lithuanian: Lietuvos valstiečių liaudininkų sąjunga , LVLS),
10492-432: The first consonant in lūpa [ˈ ɫ ûːpɐ] , "lip", is a velarized dental lateral approximant ; on the other hand, the first consonant in liūtas [ˈ lʲ uːt̪ɐs̪] , "lion", is a palatalized alveolar lateral approximant ; both consonants are followed by the same vowel, the long [ uː ] , and no [ ɪ ] can be pronounced in liūtas ). Due to Polish influence , the Lithuanian alphabet included sz , cz and
10614-534: The flag effect (caused by the COVID-19 pandemic ), its support rebounded. In the 2020 parliamentary election the party won 18.07 per cent of the vote and 32 parliamentary seats. The party has been in opposition since 2020. After the elections, Ramūnas Karbauskis resigned from his parliamentary seat. After the electoral loss the party (along with the Labour Party) began to support various radical movements on
10736-426: The formation of standard Lithuanian. The conventions of written Lithuanian had been evolving during the 19th century, but Jablonskis, in the introduction to his Lietuviškos kalbos gramatika , was the first to formulate and expound the essential principles that were so indispensable to its later development. His proposal for Standard Lithuanian was based on his native Western Aukštaitian dialect with some features of
10858-419: The highest population literacy rates: Vilna Governorate (in 1897 ~23.6–50% Lithuanian of whom 37% were literate), Kovno Governorate (in 1897 66% Lithuanian of whom 55.3% were literate), Suwałki Governorate (in 1897 in counties of the governorate where Lithuanian population was dominant, 76,6% of males and 50,2% of females were literate). Jonas Jablonskis (1860–1930) made significant contributions to
10980-616: The independent Republic of Lithuania to the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union . Soviet authorities introduced Lithuanian– Russian bilingualism, and Russian, as the de facto official language of the USSR, took precedence and the use of Lithuanian was reduced in a process of Russification. Many Russian-speaking workers and teachers migrated to the Lithuanian SSR (fueled by
11102-794: The language was almost completely eliminated there. The Baltic-origin place names retained their basis for centuries in Prussia but were Germanized (e.g. Tilžė – Tilsit , Labguva – Labiau , Vėluva – Wehliau , etc.); however, after the annexation of the Königsberg region into the Russian SFSR , they were changed completely, regardless of previous tradition (e.g. Tilsit – Sovetsk , Labiau – Polesk , Wehliau – Znamensk , etc.). The Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940 , German occupation in 1941 , and eventually Soviet re-occupation in 1944 , reduced
11224-896: The lifting of the ban in 1904. According to the Russian Empire Census of 1897 (at the height of the Lithuanian press ban), 53.5% of Lithuanians (10 years and older) were literate, while the average of the Russian Empire was only 24–27.7% (in the European part of Russia the average was 30%, in Poland – 40.7%). In the Russian Empire Lithuanian children were mostly educated by their parents or in secret schools by "daractors" in native Lithuanian language, while only 6.9% attended Russian state schools due to resistance to Russification . Russian governorates with significant Lithuanian populations had one of
11346-485: The media and the conspiracy of the establishment. In December 2023, the party took part in a meeting called "The family of European Conservatives is expanding" organized by the European Conservatives and Reformists . In the 2024 European Parliament election in Lithuania , the party focused on the environmental issues and promoted green politics, and toned down its socially conservative policies. After
11468-531: The minimum required number of seven members to continue existing. The defector, Kęstutis Bartkevičius [ lt ] , reportedly left due to being passed over for a minister position. On May 7, 2020, the Christian Union (consisting of 2 former members of the Homeland Union) expressed their support to the government. The Constitution requires the coalition programme to be reapproved by
11590-500: The native language of Lithuanians. Initially, Latin and Church Slavonic were the main written ( chancellery ) languages of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but in the late 17th century – 18th century Church Slavonic was replaced with Polish. Nevertheless, Lithuanian was a spoken language of the medieval Lithuanian rulers from the Gediminids dynasty and its cadet branches: Kęstutaičiai and Jagiellonian dynasties . It
11712-630: The needs of the poor. The LVŽS is not a protest party however - it actively works with other parties and form cabinets. The party appeals to traditional left-wing electorate by stressing the need to reduce social inequality, invest in impoverished areas, and increase minimum wage. It strongly supports trade unions and promotes a union-favourable labor law, demands progressive taxation, and redistribution of wealth from "business interests" to "the people". The party campaigns on opposition to neoliberal policies, accusing other parties of "out-liberalizing" each other in pursuit of "avant-garde neoliberal policy ideas" at
11834-403: The official languages of the European Union . There are approximately 2.8 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 1 million speakers elsewhere. Around half a million inhabitants of Lithuania of non-Lithuanian background speak Lithuanian daily as a second language. Lithuanian is closely related to neighbouring Latvian , though the two languages are not mutually intelligible. It
11956-606: The party and founded the party of her own (Lithuanian People's Party). Although the party was minor one, it gained some influence in 2010, when it supported the Homeland Union-led government . The Lithuanian Peasants Popular Union changed its name to the Lithuanian Peasants and Greens Union in January 2012. The party emerged as a dark horse in the electoral race in the spring of 2016. The rise of support
12078-549: The party won 9.13% of the popular vote (down from 12.56% in 2019) and only won a single seat. In 2024 Lithuanian parliamentary election the party ran as a joint list with several politicians from the parties Young Lithuania and Lithuania – For Everyone . It caused the Central Election Commission to designate 7 per cent threshold for this party to obtain seats in multi-member constituency. LVŽS passed electoral threshold with just more than 250 votes. After
12200-662: The party's symbol since 2012 has been the white stork . Formerly participating in the European Parliament group of the Greens–European Free Alliance , it announced its intention to join the European Conservatives and Reformists in 2024. In December 2001, the Lithuanian Peasants Party ( Lietuvos valstiečių partija ) and the New Democratic Party ( Naujosios demokratijos partija ) entered into an electoral alliance known as
12322-482: The political fringes (e. g. Families' Defense March and the Lithuanian Family Movement ). This position caused disagreements within party and its parliamentary group. Disagreements had forced a split in the parliamentary group in late summer and early autumn of 2021, and former Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis formed the newly established Union of Democrats "For Lithuania" (although this split
12444-448: The poorest voting constituencies of Lithuania. LVŽS appealed to the impoverished pensioners for political support and pledged to restructure and nationalize the "second pillar" pension program. The party's plan "mobilized a number of powerful and vocal constituencies such as the banking, life insurance, private pension fund industries, as well as business lobbying groups that had high stakes in pension reform." The party's program emphasises
12566-547: The same. In the Grammatica Litvanica Klein also established the letter W for marking the sound [v], the use of which was later abolished in Lithuanian (it was replaced with V , notably by authors of the Varpas newspaper). The usage of V instead of W especially increased since the early 20th century, likely considerably influenced by Lithuanian press and schools. The Lithuanian writing system
12688-801: The shape of zigzags through Grodno , Shchuchyn , Lida , Valozhyn , Svir , and Braslaw . Such eastern boundaries partly coincide with the spread of Catholic and Orthodox faith, and should have existed at the time of the Christianization of Lithuania in 1387 and later. Safarewicz's eastern boundaries were moved even further to the south and east by other scholars (e.g. Mikalay Biryla [ be ] , Petras Gaučas [ lt ] , Jerzy Ochmański [ pl ] , Aleksandras Vanagas , Zigmas Zinkevičius , and others). Proto-Balto-Slavic branched off directly from Proto-Indo-European, then sub-branched into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic . Proto-Baltic branched off into Proto-West Baltic and Proto-East Baltic. The Baltic languages passed through
12810-499: The sole official language of the state and mandated its use throughout the state. The improvement of education system during the interwar period resulted in 92% of literacy rate of the population in Lithuania in 1939 (those still illiterate were mostly elderly). Following the Żeligowski's Mutiny in 1920, Vilnius Region was detached from Lithuania and was eventually annexed by Poland in 1922. This resulted in repressions of Lithuanians and mass-closure of Lithuanian language schools in
12932-641: The specifics of Eastern Aukštaitians, living in Vilnius and its region (e.g. works of Konstantinas Sirvydas , Jonas Jaknavičius , and Robert Bellarmine 's catechism ). In Vilnius University , there are preserved texts written in the Lithuanian language of the Vilnius area, a dialect of Eastern Aukštaitian, which was spoken in a territory located south-eastwards from Vilnius: the sources are preserved in works of graduates from Stanislovas Rapolionis -based Lithuanian language schools, graduate Martynas Mažvydas and Rapalionis relative Abraomas Kulvietis . The development of Lithuanian in Lithuania Minor, especially in
13054-411: The writings has survived. The first recorded Lithuanian word, reported to have been said on 24 December 1207 from the chronicle of Henry of Latvia , was Ba , an interjection of a Lithuanian raider after he found no loot to pillage in a Livonian church. Although no writings in Lithuanian have survived from the 15th century or earlier, Lithuanian ( Latin : Lingwa Lietowia ) was mentioned as one of
13176-462: The written language of Lithuania Minor was transferred to resurgent Lithuania. The most famous standardizer of the Lithuanian, Jonas Jablonskis , established the south-western Aukštaitian dialect, including the Eastern dialect of Lithuania Minor, as the basis of standardized Lithuanian in the 20th century, which led to him being nicknamed the father of standardized Lithuanian. According to Polish professor Jan Otrębski 's article published in 1931,
13298-431: Was a spoken language in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Duchy of Prussia , while the beginning of Lithuanian writing is possibly associated with the introduction of Christianity in Lithuania when Mindaugas was baptized and crowned King of Lithuania in 1250–1251. It is believed that prayers were translated into the local dialect of Lithuanian by Franciscan monks during the baptism of Mindaugas, however none of
13420-480: Was able to communicate in the Samogitian dialect of Lithuanian. Soon afterwards Vytautas the Great wrote in his 11 March 1420 letter to Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor , that Lithuanian and Samogitian are the same language. The use of Lithuanian continued at the Lithuanian royal court after the deaths of Vytautas the Great (1430) and Jogaila (1434). For example, since the young Grand Duke Casimir IV Jagiellon
13542-503: Was attributed to the popularity of Karbauskis, who had been active in campaigning against alcohol, and their lack of involvement in political scandals. LVŽS was further boosted by the announcement that Saulius Skvernelis , a Minister of Interior in Butkevičius Cabinet and one of the most popular politicians in Lithuania, would head the party's electoral list in the elections, without joining the party. After successful performance in
13664-500: Was caused by independent parallel development, and the Proto-Balto-Slavic language did not exist. An attempt to reconcile the opposing stances was made by Jan Michał Rozwadowski . He proposed that the two language groups were indeed a unity after the division of Indo-European, but also suggested that after the two had divided into separate entities (Baltic and Slavic), they had posterior contact. The genetic kinship view
13786-484: Was compared to that of Polish Law and Justice or Hungarian Fidesz . However, unlike these parties, LVŽS did not mark a break with the liberal course of the European Union. Ukrainian political scientist Nataliya Khoma argues that the social conservatism of the party is moderate, stating that LVŽS "bypassed the issue of sexual minority rights" and despite promoting conservative values, the party did not adopt "a radical platform that exacerbates this issue". LVŽS's success in
13908-431: Was dismissed by party leaders, the right wing of the Homeland Union, represented by Žygimantas Pavilionis , Audronius Ažubalis , Paulius Saudargas , Agnė Bilotaitė and others, pressured Gabrielius Landsbergis to form a coalition with the party. However, the Farmers and Greens chose to form a coalition with the Social Democrats instead. In the subsequent coalition negotiations, it was agreed that Skvernelis would become
14030-472: Was fascination with the Lithuanian people and their language among the late 19th-century researchers, and the philologist Isaac Taylor wrote the following in his The Origin of the Aryans (1892): "Thus it would seem that the Lithuanians have the best claim to represent the primitive Aryan race , as their language exhibits fewer of those phonetic changes, and of those grammatical losses which are consequent on
14152-468: Was first represented by August Schleicher . Some supporters of the Baltic and Slavic languages unity even claim that Proto-Baltic branch did not exist, suggesting that Proto-Balto-Slavic split into three language groups: East Baltic , West Baltic and Proto-Slavic . Antoine Meillet and Jan Baudouin de Courtenay , on the contrary, believed that the similarity between the Slavic and Baltic languages
14274-543: Was first written down about three thousand years earlier in c. 1450 BC). According to hydronyms of Baltic origin, the Baltic languages were spoken in a large area east of the Baltic Sea , and in c. 1000 BC it had two linguistic units: western and eastern. The Greek geographer Ptolemy had already written of two Baltic tribe/nations by name, the Galindai ( Γαλίνδαι ) and Sudinoi ( Σουδινοί ), in
14396-463: Was less influenced by this process and retained many of its older features, which form Lithuanian. According to glottochronological research, the Eastern Baltic languages split from the Western Baltic ones between c. 400 BC and c. 600 BC. The differentiation between Lithuanian and Latvian started after c. 800 AD; for a long period, they could be considered dialects of
14518-553: Was put forward as the party's candidate in the 2024 presidential election . In his electoral program, Veryga emphasized his support for traditional values and opposition to same-sex partnerships . The party participated in the 2024 European Parliament election in Lithuania and aimed to win 3 seats in the European Parliament , up from 2 that it won in the 2019 European Parliament election in Lithuania . It toned down its populist and socially conservative stances and reoriented itself closer to environmentalism and green politics. However,
14640-606: Was speculated by the pundits as early as March 2021). Due to this and the Social Democratic Party's position not to support the opposition coalition, the party lost the position of opposition leader. By the end of 2021, the party started losing members in municipalities' districts (e. g. Lazdijai district municipality mayor Ausma Miškinienė left it along with the almost all LVŽS members in the area). Aurelijus Veryga , Minister of Health in Skvernelis' cabinet,
14762-431: Was to distinguish Lithuanian from Polish . The new letters š and č were cautiously used in publications intended for more educated readers (e.g. Varpas , Tėvynės sargas , Ūkininkas ), however sz and cz continued to be in use in publications intended for less educated readers as they caused tension in society and prevailed only after 1906. Saulius Skvernelis Saulius Skvernelis (born 23 July 1970)
14884-677: Was underage, the supreme control over the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was in the hands of the Lithuanian Council of Lords , presided by Jonas Goštautas , while Casimir IV Jagiellon was taught Lithuanian and customs of Lithuania by appointed court officials. During the Polish szlachta 's envoys visit to Casimir in 1446, they noticed that in Casimir's royal court the Lithuanian-speaking courtiers were mandatory, alongside
#455544